The Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) has announced that one unit at the Norochcholai Lakvijaya power station generating 300 MW will be closed down from today to manage dwindling coal stocks and to also carry out routine maintenance. The CEB said the loss of power generation will be covered by other available sources while the two-hour and 20-minute daily power cuts will continue as scheduled.

Lanka Coal Company Chairman Shehan Sumanasekara said they will only be able to provide stocks of coal to the Norochcholai power station, two days after the stocks are expected to be used up due to several issues faced in shipping leading to a delay.

“The shipment was expected to arrive in Puttalam on 28 December. However, several issues cropped up relating to shipping. The supplier said they will need more time as they will need to stop over at a port in Mozambique. Due to this delay, the shipment is expected to arrive on either 5 or 6 January,” he said, adding that however, he is hopeful the shipment may arrive early as 3 January. According to him, the shipment holds close to 25,000 metric tonnes of coal needed for power generation.

“Unloading can happen immediately. It has a capacity of unloading around 12,000 metric tonnes per day,” he said, adding that however, the company has no possibility of providing coal to the power plant during the gap of two days.

No changes to existing power cut schedule